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Let's talk about Minecarts! [Java Snapshot 24w33a]

In this snapshot we have added a new experiment with various movement changes to minecarts. Our long-term goal is to make vehicle travel, like minecarts, a viable late-game travel option for players. To achieve this, we aim to make riding minecarts a smooth experience, with consistent and predictable motion and rotation.

Movement changes:

  • Minecarts will articulate their movement better when going fast, riding on the rail all the time
  • Minecarts will now smoothly turn along with the track and are less likely to halt or derail
  • Minecarts can now jump better
  • Added a new accessibility setting that makes players follow the rotation of minecarts they ride
  • Added new gamerule minecartMaxSpeed that changes the maximum speed of minecarts 

We are aware of that these changes will break some existing contraptions, which is why we are eager to get your feedback on this experimental feature.

Known impacts

  • Contraptions such as 'piston bolts' will not work at all, or have their behavior changed
  • Very delicate rail networks will have their timings changed due to slight changes in speeds, movement distance, friction etc
  • Contraptions that rely on minecarts snapping to rails will no longer work, or have their behavior changed 

How to try this out:

Enable this feature by selecting "Minecart Improvements" in the Experiments menu when creating a new world. 

You can find all previous changelogs in the Knowledge Base in Snapshot Information and Changelogs.

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  • 5
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    The only intriguing aspect of the modifications is the 'minecartMaxSpeed' game rule; the rest of the minecart-related alterations impose a significant limitation on the player's experience 。
    In short, this is bad。
    aminous
  • 7
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    The modifications to mining car and redstone powder are undoubtedly fatal, and many machines will be damaged. At present, the item encoder is inseparable from the mining car, which is a major blow to the storage tech .

  • 9
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       First of all, I think bringing some changes to the minecarts is very much needed, since they have not been viable as a transportation mean for a long time, the main problem being their lack of speed and their cost. However, the way these changes have been implemented in this snapshot could be largely improved:

    • The removal of minecart stacking doens't bring anything to the game, there no reason for it and it should be reverted.
    • Simply boosting the speed of minecarts isn't a great solution, since some redstone contraptions, such as super smelters, will be broken by it. A solution to this is to introduce two new types of rail: One to increase the maximum speed of the minecarts, and one to decrease it. You would use the boosting rail to increase the max speed and then use power rails to make the minecart advance automaticly and gain up speed. A rail to decrease the speed (even below the standard maximum) could be used for technical purposes and for letting the player see for longer the surroundings of the rail for roller coster and such. Of course, these two do not have to be rails, they could be something that you woud add to a rail, such as a signal sign. With this modification, the max speed of minecrafts should stay at 8 without any boost.
    • The ability to link minecarts is in order to make a sort of train is still much needed. It could be implemented by using a chain on two minecarts.

       Thank you for reading my opinion, and perhaps even to consider it.

  • 5
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    Is it possible to modify only the features of the minecart, and the minecart with hopper, the minecart with chest, and the minecart with TNT retain the previous features? Apply the modify to all the types of the minecart especially the minecart with hopper ruins many machines. And it's awful that dispenser can't place the minecart on the rail when another minecart on it. pls revert it.

  • 2
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    I like the idea of controlling the speed via gamerule. Just the minecraft stacking is a thing you should'nt touch at all (or make it a gamerule too)

  • 3
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    I think the change in the specifications for when minecarts fall is better. However, the change that makes it impossible to stack minecarts and the change in how they bend will destroy some devices (such as furnace arrays). Therefore, changes that destroy devices should not be implemented. Also, if you want to increase the speed of minecarts, you should not change the maximum speed of powered rails, but instead implement new rails that can increase the maximum speed of only those rails.

  • 4
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    Please revert those changes. I'm gonne make some points why:

    1. Minecart stacking is very useful, so no longer allowing this will make it very annoying to stack minecarts togehter

    2. The movement changes affect many redstone contraptions me and other people have built in the past, such as various minecart routing systems involving changing the tracks of the minecart with specific timing

    I also noticed that when placing minecarts on rails going up or down, they behave kind of bugged, but this could be not-intentional aswell.

    Being able to place carts next to each other without affecting the behaviour is a good change, tho.

    Please look into this and revert the things that break the creations of the community

  • 1
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    This changes are excellent and very pleasant. The simple fact of adding real momentum to the minecart and the possibility of it jumping over obstacles is as much fun as it is full of possibilities. That feature alone is an great achievement. The only real flaw is that the deceleration of the minecart in the air is really too strong (after testing, it's 2x greater that other entity). I strongly suggest to making it identical to other entities, else the benefice of the flying minecart is greatly reduced.

    Another change would be to at least double the basic speed of the minecart (from 8 to 16). Maybe more, but that seems to me a minimum to make the minecart an interesting means of travel.

    I'd like to stress that as excellent as these improvements are, they're insufficient and this minecart rework is incomplete. Other changes need to be made (such as the minecrat furnace), but I understand that this kind of thing will come later. In the meantime, this is a first step very promising.

  • 2
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    I like the changes, specially minecart stacking, it always looked strange like some bug. Please don't revert them! Even if the change will break some farms, it would be great to make new according to this changes. And also it made big problems with balance. Don't afraid to change the game, community will simply adapt to these changes.

  • 1
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    With the new cart velocity changes(which I love the idea of), carts can now fly/jump with slopes. I had two things to note:

    #1: Creating these slopes
    To make actual slopes the end of a stair needs a slope too(understandable). To create the final slope at the moment you need to place a rail on the top platform(to make the rail one lower slope up), to remove it after. This feels like too many steps / janky / not smoothly I guess? I also saw multiple people's first instincts go to keeping the last rail and keeping it flat. A way to improve this (but you guys are the game designers, I am not one, this is purely an example) I had in mind is to make rails be able to slope when placing a new rail on the side of another block. So that when you place a rail on floor(or the one to final stair block) while clicking on the side of a block higher(when this is possble, aka when non curved rails), the rail automatically becomes a slope instead of staying flat running into the wall. 

    #2: Vertical momentum & end of momentum.
    The new jumps are fun! Fun is all what minecraft is about. Right now the vertical momentum feels limited. I don't know if this is either to make it feel more natural or to limit jankyness/OPness(understandable), but in my opinion this could use some finetuning(higher?/longer?/less resistance?). Also: The jumps(at high gamerule speed) randomly stop, instead of completing the whole curve, is this explicitly designed / tuned this way? It feels weird and at times kind of anticlimaxtic, in real life(as you know) things thrown complete their whole curve.  

    Review of changes: I love them, 9/10, very well the right direction.

    (also the feedback site is broken, cannot leave comments without htmlediting the submit button to be not disabled)

     

  • 5
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    There are two changes I would like reverted.

    1. Activator rail ejection changes. No one else seemed to notice, but I have noticed the activator rail ejection mechanics has changed. It now prioritizes check front and back, then front diagonals, then sides, instead of before, it checks left and right first. It does not make sense, it makes more sense dropping them off beside the rails, so please revert this.

    2. Mob pickup changes. In addition, the mob pickup mechanics also changed. Now, it requires a mob to be on the rails, making minecart based "mob dispensers" unable to work. A mob dispenser defined here is where a minecart goes past a mob storage box to pick up one mob (such as a villager) and take it somewhere.

    Please revert this.

  • 1
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    It's a really cool change with the momentum and that stuff but please let us stack minecarts. that would be very appreciated.

  • 1
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    It's fun to mess around with the new minecart speeds, would it be possible to add a gamerule for minecart momentum? It'd be fun to be able to do more insane air jumps at lower speeds or to test how many powered rails are required to maintain the higher max speeds depending on the momentum of the cart. I love the new falling animation though, its very smooth.

    I love riding in a minecart of a max speed of 30 though, its a fair alternative to elytra and can be used for fun minecart roller-coasters. It'd be interesting if the max speed varied depending on the type of rail used.

    Only issue I have is that I cannot stack multiple TNT minecarts in a single block; this type of bomb is very effective for traps because it creates a bigger more powerful explosion in a smaller space, which is very nice. The Minecart stacking is also good for hopper minecarts in some redstone devices I think.

    Overall it was a great update, I liked most of the changes in the experiment.

  • 3
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    Hello developers.

    The minicart idea is good, but you guys have been told that removing cart stacks is not a good thing. You can solve this problem by making a special game rule that will decide if the change will work or not. It would also be nice if you made a setting related to the cart and player rotating together as the default.

    And please return the texture of a redstone torch or change it. It looks very strange.

    AND RETURN OLD RAID SYSTEM WITH PILLAGERS REVENGE IDEA, please. The new system looks really weird. Why do pillagers start a raid when a player drinks his captain's drink? And it's also weird because you do the raid and the villagers like you, because you stopped the raid that you caused.

  • 3
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    Jumping with minecarts is going to be really cool to mess around with. I hope you'll be able to go faster with minecarts without having to use commands. 

    It would also be nice if minecarts got some new sound effects too, like when you place one on the rails or when it lands on the ground.

  • 3
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    While all these changes are fun, the primary reason people don't use minecarts as a means of transport is because they're too slow. This can be solved by just increasing the speed but that's potentially too shallow, instead, there should be different types of rails.

    Copper powered rails can be the first tier. Copper is a common resource, which makes it easy for players in the early game to use minecarts. The speed of copper rails can be 16/12/8/4 blocks per second. I chose 16 because this would make minecarts faster than another early game mode of transport - horses. Horses have the advantage of being able to go anywhere, while minecarts can only go from point A to B. Horses work better for adventures, while minecarts should work better for going back and forth to existing locations. also, weathered copper rails having the speed of 8 means that existing redstone contraptions that rely on minecarts can still work. Gold powered rails are more expensive and logically should be much faster that copper ones. Ideally, the late game option of rails should be faster than the elytra, because once again, elytra has the advantage of being able to use it anywhere.

    another fun and good way to make minecarts better would be to give them an even higher speed than when used with powered rails. investing in making a really long slope for a minecart track should be rewarding, instead of giving you the same amount of speed that a powered rail can give. currently, minecart speed gained from slopes is highly limited, even with the gamerule minecartmaxspeed changed. slopes should accelerate the minecart much faster and to a further extent to make using them more exciting.

    i hope the minecart experiments come into the game sooner than later and won't be on hold for long periods due to new features. improving outdated existing features is much better than prioritizing adding new features.

  • 1
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    Everything is perfect in my optinion! Please leave everything as it is!

  • 3
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    add a calibrated rail like a calibrated sculk sensor when a output determined the type of sound the rail will make a speed difference like output of 1 = slow like 1 blocks/sec 15 = fast like 30 b/s

  • 3
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    I think the changes, after so many years of calling for them, are warranted, so I don't think reverting the changes is a good idea as many seem to be asking for. That being said, there are some things that I would like to see improved. 

    As someone who uses minecarts for passenger transport, I would like to see better control of the speed. The Gamerule is practically perfect, since it's adjustable for those with potato devices. That being said, I think the default speed provided by the gamerule should be somewhere within 24-48 m/s to make a rail system worth it. I also think that a way to cap the speed at 8 m/s for contraptions such as hopper minecart  farms and train stations is useful; perhaps a new rail type made with copper.  

    Cart stacking is also an issue that seems to be an issue for many, especially for the technical community that see their storage systems that use hopper and chest minecarts at risk of the new features. Added to that is the piston bolt, which is also at risk due to the inherent nature for minecarts to snap in the middle of the block, which the technical community is also raising alarm bells about. I am personally indifferent on keeping the piston bolts in my world, but I think finding ways to preserve them should be considered. 

    The last thing I request is that furnace minecarts are given purpose to function as actual train locomotives. Something I'd like to see is for them to be upgradeable and be an alternative to powered rails for freight transport. 

  • 5
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    If it's possible, it would be cool to have multiple types of rails and each rail has its own minecart max speed, like a hypothetical copper rail could have a max speed of 16, but each stage of oxidization results in a lower max speed until the fully oxidized copper rail has a max speed of 6 or 8. Or gold powered rails could have a max speed of 24, the trade-off for the higher speed being that they're more expensive to craft. This could also open the door to a powered rail upgrade with netherite, allowing for a crazy max speed of 30 or 32.

    I think if this were implemented it would certainly make minecarts a more viable mode of transportation equal to elytras. And it could be used in a cool redstone mechanic with the detector rail + comparitor being able to detect the minecart's current speed.

  • 5
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    mojang is cooking with this feature and it needs to be in the base game. imagine your rollercoasters when you can go super fast and go flying

  • 2
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    (guys, this isn't a set of long-term changes, it's a first step and new tools to enable adjustments. Chill with the revert spam) 

    Long time Minecart-focused player here! I love the fact that you guys are starting to look into these updates!

    I've noticed in my testing that there are a few bugs worth looking into:

    • Minecarts that enter "dip stops" (a downward slope and upward slope un-powered rail, placed like '\/') sometimes ignore that they're on an un-powered rail and do not stop, instead rocking back and forth
    • Minecarts that enter un-powered rails with the player holding W sometimes fail to stop
    • Because Minecart hit boxes now rotate with the cart, "block stops", where a piston holds a block next to a downward sloped rail, no longer stop carts, as they slide underneath. 
    • Player locations position them outside the cart while it is sloped, creating a visual issue
    • Carts traveling down diagonal tracks don't move smoothly, they wiggle left and right
    • Carts have a significant delay after placing before aligning to the rails. 
    • Carts fail to align to sloped rails until their movement is updated

    My favorite part of these changes is definitely how carts handle entering the back of curved rails now! Previously, they would snap into alignment with the curved rail, then snap back into alightment with the rail they moved onto. Now, they simply move smoothly through the back of the corner! 

    If it's allowed by moderators, I've made a video showing some of my testing for this experiment!

    -Wallace

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    These new Minecart changes are amazing, though some people are upset with it breaking previous features due to changed behavior.
    The easiest solution to keep both people who like old and people who like new happy is simply adding a separate type of cart that acts in the old way. A copper minecart, made with copper bars or blocks, perhaps? Maybe with a bit of wood mixed in.
    These could be used identically to pre-experiment minecarts.

  • 1
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    About the max minecart speed, I think 16 m/s is the most balanced

  • 2
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    With the new cart velocity changes(which I love the idea of), carts can now fly/jump with slopes. I had two things to note:

    #1: Creating these slopes
    To make actual slopes the end of a stair needs a slope too(understandable). To create the final slope at the moment you need to place a rail on the top platform(to make the rail one lower slope up), to remove it after. This feels like too many steps / janky / not smoothly I guess? I also saw multiple people's first instincts go to keeping the last rail and keeping it flat. A way to improve this (but you guys are the game designers, I am not one, this is purely an example) I had in mind is to make rails be able to slope when placing a new rail on the side of another block. So that when you place a rail on floor(or the one to final stair block) while clicking on the side of a block higher(when this is possble, aka when non curved rails), the rail automatically becomes a slope instead of staying flat running into the wall. 

    #2: Vertical momentum & end of momentum.
    The new jumps are fun! Fun is all what minecraft is about. Right now the vertical momentum feels limited. I don't know if this is either to make it feel more natural or to limit jankyness/OPness(understandable), but in my opinion this could use some finetuning(higher?/longer?/less resistance?). Also: The jumps randomly stop, instead of completing the whole curve, is this explicitly designed / tuned this way? It feels weird and at times kind of anticlimaxtic, in real life(as you know) things thrown complete their whole curve.  

    Review of changes: I love them, 9/10, very well the right direction.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    What about furnace minecarts? Those haven't got any updates. Also, it would be better if minecarts could be coupled together.

    Overall though, my rating of theses experimental changes is an 8/10!

  • 2
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    Hello!

    These new changes are awesome but people are angry because minecarts are not easily stacked now. I love the new change and must say the new mechanics are great and are a fair trade for making minecarts stacking harder now. Just also increase the speed a bit so those people who love minecarts don't have to use commands to enjoy them.
    1. My rating is an 9/10
  • 3
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    love changes so far as far I can tell, will see what and when will actually ge timplemented and how..
    one way to prevent backlash and complains I already seen by redstoners, could be introducing new block that would send redstone signal one or two blocks away, it would be surely even appreciated change, and I dare to say not OP or game breaking, precedence for it is already sculk, it could be crafted of ender pearls or echo shards, echo shards specifically have not much to go for at moment anyway
    minecart changes are as whole purely positive by me, and sure, minecarft stacking was super usefull on mass storage units but I will gladly sacrifice that for minecarts be useful as minecarts and not as special mega chest and collector only, just make them connectable somehow

    is sad that lately I see only "revert changes, stop mob vote" from community, but at same time people demand better things and fixed bugs, and game to run more smoothly and consistently.. all redstone engineers and whoever else will find solution to many issues caused by cahnges, I am sure, isnt it part of that being "redstone engineer"? to solve things, not only hope for new things being added and old outdated things and glitch powered contraptions be thigns to never change? and as some people told, minecart stacking is still possible, but I think returning that would not hurt anyone much, still I would hope to those things make it trough, consistent redstone behavior and flying carts go

  • 2
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    I'm really excited to see these changes! There's definitely good potential with this, and minecarts flying off rails sounds like so much fun! I hope Mojang can further improve the other forms of transportation in this game.

    That being said, the change to stacking minecarts is... not great. I get that it can cause minecarts to go all sorts of directions, but people usually stack minecarts for reasons other than transportation - redstone comes to mind. Stacking TNT minecarts in one spot gives them a great niche compared to TNT blocks or other exploding blocks/mobs, so removing the mechanic that makes TNT minecarts unique among the exploding stuff really hinders their potential.

    Since this aims to improve minecarts, I really hope the furnace minecart finally gets some love. There are a lot of issues with furnace minecarts right now:

    • The shunting mechanic (where minecarts can be linked to a furnace minecart like a train) is rarely functional, and almost always breaks when turning or going up slopes
    • No GUI is present at all, and you can only feed it coal or charcoal as fuel. You have no in-game way of knowing how much fuel a furnace minecart has
    • You can't "pause" fuel consumption either. It either moves constantly or not at all, and stopping it by breaking it deletes any fuel it had previously

    Overall, the furnace minecart is entirely outclassed by powered rails, and has been for years. Hopefully this experiment gives it a well-earned glow-up.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Absolutely love the changes.